DMX Can’t Stay Out of Trouble, May Be Facing Jail Time

Earl can't stay out of trouble.

The sun will rise, the sun will set. The tide will come in, the tide will come out. And if it’s a day that ends in y, then Dark Man X is in trouble with the law.

The seemingly constantly incarcerated rapper might be heading back to jail after violating the terms of his bail, according to the New York Daily News

The It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot rapper was arrested over allegations that he failed to pay $1.7 million in income taxes. The judge granted him $500,000 bail, which he paid with a bond backed by two co-signers and $50,000 in cash or property. The new filing claims that DMX violated the terms of his bail in “in numerous respects.”

“The court has received a report from pretrial services indicating that the defendant may have violated the terms of his pretrial release in numerous respects,” Manhattan Federal Judge Jed Rakoff said in his order for a hearing this Friday.

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Not His Fault

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DMX’s defense attorney Murray Richman says that problems stem from his client traveling outside of the New York area without clearing it.

“He went to St. Louis without getting permission from the pretrial services officer,” Richman told the Daily News. “It was for a personal situation with regard to the lady he’s living with.”
“There are other reasons,” he added. “We don’t know what they are.”
In spite of his violations, Richman said he will fight to keep DMX out of prison because he is concerned about “his well being.”

The Charges

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DMX pled not guilty to the tax evasion charges back in July. The rapper born Esrl Simmons is accused of running a multi-year fraud and faces 14 counts of evasion.

The indictment of the rapper claims that he intentionally kept his money in cash, didn’t personally set up accounts with banks and set up shell accounts when he had to use the banks.

The indictment also claims that DMX was pretty flagrant in his tax avoidance, holding out on recording a segment for the show Couples Therapy until he was given a check that didn’t have withholdings.

The time specified in the indictment runs from 2002 to 2005, but the indictment also notes that he didn’t file personal income taxes between 2010 and 2015. This in spite of the fact that he allegedly made $2.3 million during that time.

The rapper faces up to 44 years in prison if he is convicted. It would be the latest trip to prison for the rapper who has spent the better part of the last decade making headlines for his legal troubles as opposed to his rapping.

Richman says that Simmons allowed others to handle his finances and therefore wasn’t aware of any fraud. The lawyer maintains that the actions didn’t come at the behest of Simmons.

To say that he schemed to defraud the government is absurd,” the lawyer told NYDN.

What do you think? Is DMX going back to prison? Did he willfully scheme to avoid paying his taxes? Or is this just a case of Earl putting his trust in the wrong people? Let us know in the comments and be sure to SHARE this article.